Tension device for automatic loom shuttles



May 21, v1929- w. E, LUNDGREN 1,713,706

TENSION DEVICE FOR AUTOMATIC LOOM SHUTTLES y Filed March 8, 1928 vn. Jbl

kwam-OSL bJxLmAM E. LuNDGRiN A'r'rcrNEY .Patented May 2l, i929..

WILLIAM E. LUNDGREN, OF TIASSACHUSETTS, fitG-NOR TG COllli/[ON- WEALTH FINANCE CORQRATIN, QF VV'RCESTER,`

RATION DF MASSAHUSETS.

,ssaonnsn'r'rs a conre- Application filed March 5,

The invention relates to tensioning devices incorporated in shuttles. by means of which a uni'forn'i and suitticient tension is exerted on the wett in order that the goods may be woven properly. The invention has particular utility in shuttles provided for automatic silk looms, because the problem ot proper tension has been a diiticult one in this class of weaving. y y

In silk weaving, it has always been necessary to exert a considerable tension on the wett to prevent the iinished goods from having wrinkles or other defects. lhis is particularly true in the weaving' et crepes, where one or two loose wett threads would ruin the whole piece ot goods because the twist in the wcit would then destroy the symn'ietry of the fabric. ltis this factor that has, more than anything,r else, retarded the acceptance ot the automatic wett replenishing loom by the silk industry. However, the automatic principle of weaving is now being adopted by silk manufacturers in spite et the above difficulty because of the demand for greater production and lowered cost.

I am aware that many ''orn'is of self-threading` tensioning devices tor autonlatic shuttles exist in the art and that some of these have been used with more or less success inthe silk industry. There is, however, one feature which substantially all oi these prior devices have which limit-s their effectiveness, and this is the employment of the drag of the Wett itself from the bobbins or quills to act-nate the self-threading tensioning' device. Such employment places a definite limitation on the amount of tensioning which the device can be made to exert, and this limitation of eiiiectiveness has, in most instances, caused the seltthreadingV tensioning devices to exert a much less tension than the manually threading tensioning devices heretofore and now in-use.

The device of my invention has no such lin'iitat-ions and can exert a tensioning force 'tar in excess of the drag et the sill( ott the bobbin. Furthermore the device is eelt-contained, incorporated. in the shuttle, and depends upon no outside mechanical means for its operation. By my invention l make use of the inertia ot a mass out material mounted in the shuttle to place the elements ot the tensioning device in threading position, a spring; or some resilient means then being utilized to 1923. Serial lilo. 260,113.

exert the tension. is the inertia oi a mass of material in the shuttle can be used'to overcome the tension ot a spring or resilient device having considerable resistance, l am enabled to exert a tension up to any required lin'iits. The inertia of the mass `derives its reactant 'torce from the rapid acceleration of the shuttle when it is picked out of the shuttle box.`

rllhe means which l have employed to etlect the threading' ot a tensioning device may be .vidcly varied; .l have illustrated in the drawing' and will describe herein a particular embodiment et such which is the best form now known to me. In the said drawings l? l is a plan view of an automatic loom shuttle incorporating the tensioning device and mechanism ot'my invention. r Y Fig. 2 a 'fragmentary plan view ot the eye end of the shuttle with a portion ofthe device breiten away to better show the operating m echani sin.

Fie'. 3 is a. view similar to Fig. 2 but showing; theclenients of the tensioning device in position for threading.

F'Win'. l is a sectionalview on the line 4, 4, of

5 is a transverse sectional view on the of Fig'. 3.

' Figs. G and 7 are schematic views of the elements ot the tensioning; device f before and during threading'. i y

8 is a perspective view ot the tensioning' mechanism.

Fig. 9 is a plan View of a modiiied form of tensioning mechanism.

Like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the drawing.

Referring; Afirst to Fig. l, the body of an automatic shuttle is indicated at l, said. shuttle haa/ingI the usual tips 2, 2, and being provided with a spring; fork 3, and heel plate 4i, peculiar to automatic loom shuttles. lt is to beundcrstood that my invention can be applied te any typcot automatic loom shuttle.

rEhe tensioning' device of the invention is dcsirably complctcl y contained in a metal casing 5, which may be ot the general 'form and Y shape shown in the several `figures and which can be ir cred in or removed from a depression G Ylbrmed in the threading end of the shuttle itor this purpose. Referring particularly to Q, 3, li, Iand 5, the casing 5 comflares outwardly when viewed in plan and to which are integrally attached a pair of vertical supports 8, 8,.providing top plates 9,9, l

integrally formed therewith. In this manner the casing provides an inclosed space for the receptionl of the actuating mechanism of tween the plates 9, 9, for the passage of the thread. y v l Y Extending between the inner edges andtop plates 9, 9, and the bottom plate 7 ofthe casing and screwed into the latter when the mechanismis assembled are a pair of vertical 'pivot posts 11, 11. These mayv best be seen in Figs. 2, 3, and 5. The po'sts 11, 11, serve for the pivotal support of elements of the tensioning device. The latter comprise conn tinuousw'ires 12 and 13, the foitiner'having three hook portions 14, 14, 14, and the latter having a pair of hook portions 15, 15. Each Vwire tensioning device is woundinto coils 16 and 17 respectively which surround the pivot posts 11,11." Those portions ofthe wires 12 and 13 which carry the hooks 14- and 15 respectively lie'close to or touching the bottom plate 17 and yjoin the coils 16 and 17 at the bottom thereof; the tops of the coils 16 and 17 extend tangentiallyto form arms 18 and 19 respectively which merge into a sec-` ond set of coils 2O and 21 at the ends of said arms. The bottom of the coil 21 provides a closed eye 23 while the bottom of the coil 2O providesjanopen eye 22. The coils 20 and 21 serve to support inertia masses 24 and 25 which may be formed of any desirable substance such as lead, and an elastic 26 connects them, the elastic being held'by the eyes 22 and 23.

i In other respects the shuttle threading mechanism may incorporate or provide any tensioning mechanism let it be assumed that the shuttle 1 is in the right hand box of an automatic loom underneath the magazine or battery thereof and that a full bobbin 30 has just been placed in positionV as shown in Fig. 1 by the transferring mechanism of the loom. The filling end 31 will at that time, as is well `known to those familiar with this art, extend directly from the bobbin 30 to the filling hold-V 1 ing knob or bell provided by the loom to hold the'ends of filling from bobbins placed in the magazine, and the filling will thus be above the level of the tensioning mechanism. I

make use of the followingiiight of the shuttle to draw the thread downward pastthe opening 10Y around the horn 27, and into the teirrsioning mechanism precisely as isdone in all shuttles and threaders of this classy The Vnovelty of the present-apparatus consists in the tensioning device leaving a passage 10, be-

sition shown in Figs. 3 and 7 The hooks 14 v and'15 having been thus placed in overlapping position, tlie filling end 31 will be received between them, and the subsequent separation'of'the arms 12 and 13f which'separates the hooks14 and 15 threads the tensioningY mechanism as shown in Fig. 2. Of course, as

in previous shuttles, the filling does not ypass.

through the open eye 29 until the return pick of the shuttle; Since the force which causes the wires 12 and 13 to come together overlapping the hook portions 14 and 15 is dei'ived from a source independent of the pull of the thread, and in fact may be a veryvconsiderable force even with inertia masses no larger proportionately than the -masses 24 and 25 shown l in the figures, the tension of the elastic 26 can Abe regulated to produce a very strong tension on the iilling end 31' during the weaving of the goods, andthus theresults set forth at the beginningof this specificationare fully achieved. In order to easily insert and adjust the tension of the elastic 26 a knot may be made 'atene end thereof and, the elastic being pulled through the eye 23, andV a knot having been made at the other end the proper distance froml the first lrnot to provide the desired tension, the second knot may beslippcd un- 'der the open eye 22. A hole 32 is provided in the side of the shuttle for easy access to the Vdevice for this purpose. llt will be obvious toV all that I may substitute a metal spring for the elastic 26 and in fact any form of resilient means will serve the purpose. p 'Y Preferably a raised portion 33 may be provided on the bottom plate 7 to cause the Viilling iio to clear the elastic 26 or equivalent resilient means.V The metal casing 5 may-be fastened in position in the shuttle by `means of a horizontal screw 34. Y

Figs. 6 and 7 show diagraiiimaticallyV the hooks 14 and 15 prior to and at the time' of the i flight of the shuttle, the filling end 31being shown in proper relative position. Fig. 8

shows the tensioning and threading mechanism in perspective detached from the casing 5 so that the parts thereof may be more clear- 1 ly visualized. vIt willbe understood that the massesk 24 and 25 are desirably made eficad because of the high specific gravity of this metal and the fact that it can be easily sl'iaped or trimmed with a knife.

In Fig. 9 a slightly modified torni ot tensioningdevice is shown in plan view detached trom the casing. In this 'iigure a verti 'al pivot post is shown at lla and a single wire tensioning device l2`is provided, the latter having three hoch portions lila. The wire l2 is turned into a coil It?L and a coil 20 exactly as in the other term ot the invention, these coils being connected by a short arm 18H. The coil 20 carries a .mass 2l the inertia ot' which swings the wire 12a trom the full line position to the dotted line position against the tension ot an elastic 26a. The hook portions lll are adapted to overlap a series of pins and when the device springs back to its original position the apparatus is threaded. It will be seen that the modilied form ot mechanism works in exactly the same manner as the forms shown in Figs. l to 8 inclusive, except that only kone set of movable elements are provided.

Although designed primarily for automatic looms the device oit the invention may be used in lconnection with nonautomatic looms and has considerable utility for such, since the lling can be caused to thread in the tensicming mechanism ot' the invention bymerely givingt-he shuttle a sharp whip with the hand in a manner that will be easily learned. by those familiar with this art.

As I believe I am the tirst to use means actuated by the acceleration et a shuttle to effect a tensioning ot' 0r to put a drag on the iilling in said shuttle, I wish to claim the same broadly, however carried out, and in the appended claims the term acceleration is to be taken to include negative as well as positive acceleration, and t-he Word inertia is to be taken to mean the property which all .matter (so tar as known) possesses, ot resisting any attempt to start it it at rest, to stop it it in motion, or in any way to change either the Idirection or amount ci its motion.

I claim:

l. In a device ofthe class described, a movable thread tensioning member, resilient means holding said member in thread tensioning position, and an inertia mass and conncctions whereby said tensioning member is moved to threading` position upon the picking of the shuttle in which the device is located.

2.` In a device of the class described, a pair ot' movable thread tensioning members, resilient means holding said movable members in thread tensioning position, and inertia masses and connections whereby said tensioning members are moved to threading posi-V tion upon the picking ot' a shuttle in which the said device is located. Y

3. In a device ot' the class described, a pair ot pivot pins, a pair et' levers mounted on said pins, hooked portions on each of said levers, adapted upon the swinging of said levers in opposite directions to overlap, and inertia means on the other arms ot said levers whereby to swing them together upon the picking of a shuttle in which the said device is located.

4. In a 'device ot the class described, a pair ot pivot pins, a pair of levers mounted on said pins, hooked portions on each of said levers, adapted upon the swinging of said levers in opposite directions to overlap, and inertia means on the other arms of said levers whereby to swing them together upon the picking ot a shuttle in which the said device is located and resilient means connecting said levers whereby to thereafter separate said hooked portions to exert a tension on a thread.

5. In a device ot' the class described, a wire twisted into a pair of coils and having a plu- 1ality et hooked portions -formed thereon, a pivot post adapted to receive one of said coils, and a weight contained in the other of said coils, whereby the end of said wire having said hooked portions is moved upon the impacting of a shuttle containing said device in order that the hooked portions may receive and tension a thread.

6. In a device ot the class described, a thread tensioning device, resilient means adapted to hold said device with a force great enough to exert a tension on lling greater than the drag of the filling ofi the bobbin, and inertia means adapted'upon acceleration of a shuttle in which said device is placed to move said device to receive a thread, whereby the subsequent movement oit said device in response to said resilient means will exert the tension aforesaid.

WILLIAM E. LUNDGREN. 

